Tijuana
by ficwriterjet
Summary: This is a 'missing scene' from the episode 'The Escape' in season one. Summer is being mean, and Seth decides he's had enough. WARNING: M/F spanking, and clearly out of character.


Authors Notes: This story is a 'missing scene' from the episode 'The Escape'. Most of this story is taken straight from the episode, and the fiction part is in the middle. Written: September 2003.

The O.C. – Tijuana 

Seth and Ryan had decided to go to Tijuana for one last summer fling, along with most of the other kids in Orange County. Summer and Marissa had decided to go to Tijuana too, but at the last minute they lost their ride. Seth invited them to go with him and Ryan, and even though Summer didn't really want to, she couldn't find another ride. Summer sat in front with Seth who was driving, and Ryan sat in back with Marissa. As soon as they were on the road, Summer started to complain.

Summer said, "We should be there in like three hours?'

Seth said, "No. The GPS says ETA's three and a half."

"Well, that's because someone drives like an old woman," she taunted.

"I'm doing 70 in a 65 zone."

"80 is the new 70"

Seth was mildly amused. "What? Who talks like that?"

She was annoyed. "Who gets passed by a van full of nuns? Oh wait. Who? Cohen does!"

He tried to stay calm, and said, "Well, they have God on their side, Summer. Okay? I'm not gonna beat Jesus."

Still annoyed, she said, "I'm gonna call Holly and see how far ahead of us they are, and she's a girl."

"That's weirdly insulting to your own gender."

"Not as insulting as it is to you."

"Point taken."

Summer whined, "I'm so dehydrated. What is up with the A/C?! My hair is frizzing out. It looks like Howard Stern's."

Seth said, "See, strangely I feel like my Jew fro benefits from this climate."

"You're Jewish?" she asked with distaste.

"Yes," he sighed. Trying for humor again, he added, "That's why I feel so comfortable in this desert heat."

Summer was unhappy and shrill as she said, "God! This is a nightmare! I'm sweating to death like on a rickshaw, driving 10 miles an hour, listening to this _music_!"

"Hey. Do _not_ insult Death Cab."

"It's like one guitar and a whole lot of complaining."

"Who reminds me of someone else who's doing a whole lot of complaining Summer. You! Now listen to me, I am driving this vehicle, and I'm gonna drive at the speed that I feel comfortable, okay. It's my music. It's my snacks…"

Summer interrupted, "Kudos and Goldfish? What are you eight?"

In a calm voice he said, "Ryan, Marissa, say good by to Summer."

"What are you doing?" Summer asked.

"Leaving you at the side of the road," Seth said calmly.

"No you're not!" she shrieked, and grabbed the steering wheel.

Seth and Summer struggled for control of the wheel. Ryan and Marissa shouted at them to stop while they fought. They ended up running off the road, and killing the car.

# # #

The four of them got a cheep hotel room with one bed, and a fold out couch. Summer again started complaining the second they got in the room. "Eewww."

Seth said, "It's not exactly the honeymoon suite."

Trying to make the best of it, Marissa said, "Yeah. Well, it's only for one night until the axle is fixed."

Ryan shrugged. "I've stayed in worse."

"That's nothing to brag about," Summer said. She walked over to the bed and looked at the quilt. "Sweet. Do we have to pay extra for the pubes? This is so gross you guys. I can not stay here."

"Well, unless you feel like hitch hiking again…" Ryan said.

Summer pulled a feather out of her hair and said, "No. Thank you. I've spent enough time in a truck full of chickens."

Ryan rolled his eyes and walked away. He didn't understand what Seth saw in her.

Trying to calm Summer down Marissa said, "Well hey, we're lucky that guy stopped for us."

Summer was still irritated and gestured to Seth, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, as she said, "Yeah, well we'd be even luckier if Cole Trickle here hadn't driven us off the road,"

"Who the _hell_ is Cole Trickle?" Seth asked.

"Tom Cruise. Days of Thunder."

Marissa said, "Hey guys, can we try to be positive here?"

"Yeah. Okay. I am positive that this is Summer's fault," Seth said.

Summer looking around the room said, "I am positive that I'm leaving this place with a rash."

"Oh, so you plan on making some extra money tonight?" he asked.

Summer glared at Seth and said, "Uhhhh." She walked to the bathroom and said, "Eeww. This bathroom is so….eeww!"

Marissa left to go find Ryan, and some food. They ended up talking next to a snack machine outside the hotel for a long time.

# # #

Seth was sitting alone on the bed. He turned on the TV and said to himself, "Hey, static. That's awesome."

Summer came out of the bathroom in a short nightie and said, "What are you doing?"

"Almost watching TV. This is either Sponge Bob Square Pants, or JAG."

She put her hands on her hips, and commanded, "Get off the bed. The sooner I go to sleep, the sooner it will be morning, and this nightmare will be over."

Seth didn't move.

She added, "I'm not sleeping on that couch. It's stained, and smells foul. You sleep there."

He stayed on the bed and said, "After you've made it sound so appealing? Right. Have fun. Good night."

"Come on! Get off the bed!"

"Nope."

"Be like a gentleman," she pleaded.

He put his hands behind his head and stayed where he was. "Chivalry's dead sugar."

Huffing in frustration, she walked to the bed, pulled back the covers, and got in. She turned to Seth and threatened, "You make a move… I rip out your jugular."

"Hey. Pillow talk," he said, and turned off the TV.

Still fully clothed, Seth laid down on top of the covers, facing away from her. He said, "Good night. Pleasant dreams."

She sat up and turned towards him. "Pleasant Dreams?!"

He rolled his eyes, but stayed silent hoping she would let it go.

She didn't. "Yeah, right. Like anyone could have pleasant dreams in this….this place. It's so disgusting here, that I'll probably have nightmares of cockroaches or bed bugs… what ever those are."

"Okay, have a nice nightmare then."

Summer was fuming. "This is completely your fault!"

He got angry too. He sat up to look at her, and said, "No, Summer. This is all entirely _your_ fault. You're the one who grabbed the steering wheel while I was driving. You made us run off the road, which caused the car to break. So, you have no one to blame for sleeping here but yourself!"

"You were going to leave me on the side of the road!"

"I wouldn't have really left you on the side of the road, I just wanted you to stop complaining. You should have known that Marissa and Ryan wouldn't have let me leave you." She started to say something, but Seth cut her off with, "And, even if I was going to leave you on the side of the road, grabbing the steering wheel when someone's driving is dangerous and stupid."

"Stupid! Are you calling me Stupid?!"

He shrugged and said, "Maybe I should have said bratty?"

"Bratty! So what, you think I'm six now?"

Rolling his eyes, he said, "No, I remember you when you were six. You're meaner now. Maybe I should have said bitchy."

Summer glared and said, "I hate everything about this trip. I hate your car, your driving, your music, this hotel, and mostly I hate you!" At the end of her rant, she punched his arm as hard as she could.

He almost fell off the bed. "Oww!" he exclaimed, and covered the spot she'd hit with his hand. He glared at her, and lost his temper. "That's _it_."

He grabbed both of her arms and put her face down across his lap, while she tried to punch him again. The nightie she was wearing was so short, that when she was across his lap he had a clear view of her panties. He was momentarily distracted by the sight, but shook his head as he brought his hand down on the center of her bottom with a loud 'smack'.

Summer's eyes opened wide with shock. She was silent for the first smack, but when the second one landed she yelled at the top of her lungs, "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?!!!"

He yelled back, "I don't know!" And smacked her a couple more times.

"You can't spank me!"

Seth thought, _What the hell am I doing? She's right I can't do this. Can I?_

He stopped spanking while he thought, and she said, "I'll scream, and Ryan will make you stop!"

He knew Ryan wasn't all that fond of Summer's attitude, and wondered if Ryan would stop him. But he quickly decided it didn't matter, because he didn't think he should stop now that he'd started. He started swatting again and said, "I think Ryan might approve."

She started to struggle in earnest, and he put his arm around her waste to keep her in place, as he continued to spank her. He wasn't spanking very hard, because he didn't want to really hurt her. He just wanted her to stop being unpleasant.

She was completely furious that she couldn't get herself out of his grip, and that he was spanking her in the first place. She used her fingernails to pinch and scratch the parts of Seth's leg and back that she could reach. Seth was glad he had his clothes on for some protection, but it still hurt, and it pissed him off. He stopped spanking her and said, "You just don't know when to give up do you Summer?" He brought his hand down much harder than before.

Summer yelled, "Oww! That hurt Cohen!"

"It's supposed to," he said.

She wiggled and complained as he swatted. "Oww! You jerk… Oww! I hate you… Let me up! Oww! Seth stop! Ahh! Nooo! I said stoooop!"

He paused and said, "You know Summer, when someone offers to take you on a road trip, you're not supposed to complain the whole time. In fact you're supposed to be nicer than usual."

"I was nicer," she said with a pout.

His eyebrows went up in surprise, but once he took a second to think about it, he knew she was telling the truth. He said, "And you should _never_ grab the steering wheel when someone is driving."

Before Summer could reply, Seth brought his hand down six more times, and then all she could say was "Oww. Stop! Please stop."

He did stop, and said, "Okay, but before I let you up, I you should know that if you hit me again I'm gonna give you a real spanking."

"What do you mean a _real_ spanking? What do you call this?!"

"A warning."

She felt him let go of her, and she scrambled over to her side of the bed, and got under the covers. She turned her back to him and thought about what she was going to do. _I'll call my dad. No better yet, I'll call Seth's dad. Maybe I'll call the police and file a report._ Then she thought about having to tell them exactly what had happened, and decided that she probably wouldn't tell anyone. She probably wouldn't even tell Marissa. Her butt was starting to feel better, and she decided it wouldn't be worth it.

Seth, shocked at what he had done, had no idea what to do now. He started to feel bad about it. _Way to go Seth. Now she'll hate me forever. I just blew my chance for having her as a girlfriend. Why don't I think things through before I do them? Where the hell is Ryan? He should have been here to stop me damn it._ Seth wanted to make it better some how, but he wasn't sure what to do. He lay down next to her, still on top of the covers, and said quietly; "You okay?"

"Like you care."

He sighed. "I do care, more than you know. I want you to be happy. I don't like to see you miserable, but I don't want you to make the rest of us miserable either."

"I'm okay I guess," she admitted.

"I'm glad." Trying to lighten the mood, he said, "Nice panties by the way."

"Shut up Cohen. And if you ever mention this to _anyone_ including me, I'm going to hire someone to kill you. You got it?"

"I'll take it to my grave," he said with a smile. "I swear."

# # #

The next morning they woke up before Ryan and Marissa, and got ready for the day. Summer was hungry, and as soon as Seth was done taking a shower and getting dressed, she motioned him to come with her. They walked to the restaurant that was across the street in silence. Soon they were eating breakfast in peace, and sharing the newspaper. They were comfortable with the silence, and she even ate some of his leftover toast. Then they both realized at the same time that they were way too comfortable together.

Seth said, "So…. Tijuana."

"Yeah."

"Think we should have woke Ryan and Marissa?"

"No. They looked so cute together." She made a face and added, "Vomit."

"Hey, that's a real sentimental streak you've got there Summer."

"Trouser it Cohen. It's too early for your so called comedy."

"You enjoy my comedy." She didn't deny it, so after a pause Seth continued with, "You know what else I think you enjoy?… Me."

She smiled and said, "Well, that's because you're mentally unstable."

"Be that as it may. I think the facts speak for themselves. Might I remind you of a little something that I like to call: The time that you kissed me by the pool at my Grandfather's birthday party."

"What are you talking about?"

"Mmmkay. I know that denial is a very powerful coping mechanism, but I just think, Summer, that it's time that we paid lip service to our lip service."

Enunciating her words, she said, "Two words: No tongue."

"Well, you did agree to take this little trip with me down Mexico way."

"I needed a ride."

"We shared a bed," he pointed out.

"I wasn't gonna sleep on that couch. It smelt like these eggs."

"You ate my toast Summer."

"I like crust Seth."

"Face it. Our chemistry is undeniable."

"You know what else is undeniable?"

"What?"

Summer picked up a fork and said loudly, "The pain this fork is gonna cause when I jam it into your eye!"

Seth stared at her like she had gone insane. She looked a little embarrassed, and put the fork down. She said, "I suffer from rage black outs."

"I'm gonna get the check," he held his hand up and looked around for the waiter. While he paid the bill, he decided to count himself lucky that she hadn't killed him in his sleep.


End file.
